Our comment box is open for you to ask Sky News analysts or army correspondents about the war in Ukraine.
We will give the most productive response each week.
Thank you for listening. Here’s a quick reminder of what happened.
We hear from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who rejected Donald Trump’s alleged comments that Ukraine cede some of its occupied territory to Russia.
Zelensky said it was a “primitive” suggestion, but added that he would be willing to heed Zelensky’s ideas. Trump if he had “strong arguments. “
He’s not the only prominent politician to criticize the former U. S. president’s alleged comments.
Lord Cameron, the British foreign secretary, has said that peace in Ukraine can only come from Kiev, and not from Russia’s “appeasement”.
Separately, a top U. S. general warned that Ukraine would run out of air defense “in a short period of time. “
General Christopher Cavoli that “the stakes are high” for Ukraine.
Members of the Siberian Battalion of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were photographed participating in military training at an undisclosed location in the Kyiv region.
A top U. S. general has warned that Ukraine will run out of artillery shells and air defense interceptors “in a short period of time” without more U. S. support.
They tell Congress that “the stakes are high” for Ukraine.
The comments echo those of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who warned over the weekend that Ukraine could run out of air defense missiles if Russia continues its intense bombing campaign.
“If they continue to attack [Ukraine] every day like they did last month, we may run out of missiles, and the partners know that,” he said.
In an update to our most recent message, the regional governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region said that this afternoon’s airstrike in the village of Lyptsi killed 3 people.
In a post on Telegram, Oleh Synehubov said that in addition to the death of the 14-year-old woman we reported earlier, two people were killed in the attack.
Two other people were injured and rescuers continue to search for victims in the rubble.
The local government reports that a child was killed and at least three others were wounded in an attack in the Kharkiv region.
Russian-guided aerial bombs hit the settlements of Lyptsi, Mala Danylivka and Vovchansk, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
The governor said the store and pharmacy were set on fire during the attacks.
In Lyptsi, a 14-year-old woman was killed and at least two other people – a 33-year-old pharmacy employee and a 16-year-old boy – were injured.
In Vovchansk, a 34-year-old man was taken to hospital with a shrapnel wound.
Syniehubov said the local fitness center was destroyed.
Switzerland has announced that it will hold a high-level peace convention in Ukraine in June.
The aim of the convention is to create a concrete roadmap for Russia’s participation in the peace process.
The convention will take place on June 15 and 16 on the outskirts of the city of Lucerne.
A G7 summit will be held in neighbouring Italy on 13-15 June.
He acknowledges “some unknowns” ahead of the conference, “but given Switzerland’s long diplomatic culture and the encouraging comments obtained in the exploratory phase, he considers it his duty to contribute to the peace process in Ukraine. “
The British Foreign Secretary has said that peace in Ukraine can only come from Kiev, and not from Russia’s “appeasement”.
His comments appear to be a rebuttal to Donald Trump’s alleged comments that Ukraine is ceding some of its occupied territory to end the war.
Lord Cameron told CNN: “Without what I’ve talked to Donald Trump, basically, this year – and you heard from Zelensky this morning – there’s a threat that Ukraine will lose additional ground to [Vladimir] Putin.
“Nobody needs to be on a stage in November where maybe we’ve just acted, maybe we’ve helped, maybe we’ve pushed Putin back, maybe we have the procedure to achieve a victory in Ukraine and achieve a just peace, but we still didn’t get there. ” I’m not sure if I’m
Asked about Trump’s alleged comments, he said they all sought to see an end to the war “but that can only be achieved by supporting Ukraine, by appearing strong. “
“Peace comes through strength, appeasement and weakness,” he said.
For the past week we have been posing your questions about the war to our analysts and army correspondents.
Every week, we have one or two more people to respond to, starting with this. . .
With the (lacking) speed of implementation of Western policies and the Russian military’s increased speed of production, is it already too late to save Ukraine, even if European countries agree to a massive increase in military spending?
Andy
Military analyst Sean Bell asks. . .
Thank you Andy for this very timely question.
Large-scale wars involve the ingestion of massive quantities of weapons, munitions, and military apparatus, far beyond the scale of peacetime reserves, and also beyond the capacity of a commercial defense base in peacetime. To meet the demands of a fashionable battlefield, political leaders need to make quick decisions about where to invest and what existing production capacity can be suspended to create the capacity to increase military production.
Russia realized early on that it would be engaged in a long-term military campaign and increase its defense trade base to at least three times the size of before the war. In addition, Russian oil revenues finance imports of ammunition and missiles from North Korea and Iran. .
On the contrary, Ukraine’s commercial defense base remains vulnerable to Russian attacks and its survival depends on the support of the Western military.
Although the West’s trading capacity is an order of magnitude greater than Russia’s, Russia is ramping up production when the West has been slow to react.
Western countries now recognize the broader risk that Russia poses to European security, and defense budgets are emerging accordingly. But this represents a long-term investment in national security, rather than offering a short-term source of weapons to Ukraine.
The only credible solution in the short term – next year – would be for the United States to approve the $60 billion military aid package that would allow for the immediate deployment of commercially available weapons and ammunition. Summer can be very difficult for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, continues to argue that the West does not rule out putting “boots on the ground,” a view supported by former British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. While this would be a significant escalation, it would allow the West to deploy trendy weapons from its arsenal that have so far not been sent to Ukraine for fear that they will end up on the black market.
The West could also establish a no-fly zone over all or part of Ukraine. Given the poor functionality of the Russian Air Force, this would almost in fact turn the tide of the war in Ukraine’s favor.
But is there a political appetite to take such a step, even as it would nearly end Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine?
The two countries signed a framework agreement to cooperate in the defense and weapons production sectors, Kyiv said.
The document, signed at a military industry convention in the Ukrainian capital, was attended by some 30 British defence companies.
British corporations were allowed to talk about potential joint ventures with Ukrainian arms and defense producers.
UK Trade Policy Minister Greg Hands said he hoped the deal would bring benefits to Ukraine on the battlefield and also to its economy in the long term.
Ukraine has stepped up its efforts to produce its own weapon, as it appears to be insufficiently equipped in terms of weaponry and manpower on the battlefield.
It also hopes to incentivize major Western manufacturers to find repair and production facilities in Ukraine, despite the risk of Russian shelling.
British defence company BAE Systems, one of the first Western manufacturers to set up an entity in Ukraine, has signed an agreement with the British Ministry of Defence to maintain, repair and overhaul small arms in Ukraine.
Officials also said they expected more projects this year in the drone production sector.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to Donald Trump’s alleged comments on how to end the war in Ukraine.
The former U. S. president, who is due to return to the White House in November, reportedly said privately that Ukraine and Russia “need to save face, they need a way out. “
Trump reportedly added that Ukraine would cede some of its occupied territories to Moscow, saying Ukrainians would not object to being part of Russia, according to the Washington Post.
His adviser later denied the claims in an observation for the New York Post, calling the article “fake news. “
Zelensky said in an interview with Bild that he is skeptical about the announced peace plan.
“If the agreement and the concept is simply to give up our territories, then it’s very primitive,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president said he was in a position to ask Trump to end the war if he had a “strong case. “
“We don’t want an idea, we want a genuine idea. These are human lives; We can’t make jokes and we can’t take risks,” he said.
He also noted that Kiev had invited Trump to Ukraine, publicly and in public, to see the scenario with his own eyes.
The U. S. politician has yet accepted the invitation.